India opens up to diamonds
SPOILT FOR CHOICE With a younger breed of urban consumers looking at diamonds to add variety to their wardrobe, jewellery brands are catering to them with designs across price bands
MUMBAI: When De Beers launched its diamond brand Forevermark in India in January 2011, it saw this market as having selectively developed enough awareness of diamonds to appreciate solitaires. Despite a lower annual diamond jewellery category sales growth in 2013 over 2012, Forevermark still looks at India as important, citing it with China, the US and Japan as a strong growth market in 2013 for it, with continued consumer demand. It is focused on making India the biggest consumer of its diamonds after the US, China, Japan and Hong Kong.
Several diamond jewellery brands – mostly Indian – have also done their aggressive bit to popularise diamond jewellery in India. Not that Indian consumers have given up on gold, but a majority younger population, especially urban, is looking beyond plain old gold to accessorise its dressing up. Diamond jewellery fits in very well, especially everyday stuff that often comes cheaper than gold jewellery.
Siddharth Kapoor, senior VP, marketing, CaratLane.com, said, “As fashion trends and women’s lifestyles change, their preference moves towards chic and elegant diamond jewellery over heavy, traditional gold jewellery, something that they can wear for most occasions in their life, and not just keep in the locker.”
Indian consumers, exposed to branded diamond jewellery priced at mid-end to super premium levels, have even started ordering online. “Our average sale is around ` 35,000, but we regularly get individual orders over ` 1 crore for large-sized solitaires,” Kapoor said.
On buying online, he observed: “Initially, there was hesitation about buying higher value diamond jewellery online, but that is almost gone now. Customers do their research and once they understand the diamond’s specifications, they don’t hesitate to buy online.” He added that tiers II and III cities favour online, lacking access otherwise.
Top Indian brands such as Tanishq, Gitanjali, D’damas, Nakshatra, Asmi, Nirvana, Gili, Kiah, Orra, Sangini, Adora have aggressively pushed diamonds as lifestyle desirables through advertising and promotions. They have used top Bollywood actresses as endorsers, as has Forevermark.
“Diamond is an addictive category,” said Deepika Tewari, GM marketing, jewellery division, Titan Company Limited. “Once you start buying diamonds, you can’t stop. At entry, one buys a ring or a bracelet. Then you keep adding till you have a complete set.” Diamonds sell the most in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.
Size and quality based on specifications such as carat, cut, colour and clarity matter at the premium end. In the north, customers place higher importance on size and look. In the south and west, flawlessness rather than size matters most.
According to an Equity Communications report, while 37% of overall diamond consumers (mostly in the north) look for classic, wedding-style jewellery; 35% (west) look for modern, sophisticated designs; 20% (south) look for traditional, ethnic designs in their diamond jewellery; while 8% (east) look for temple designs.
Urban, financially independent women in the 25-50 years age band are the main buyers. A lot of men also buy diamond jewellery as gifts for their wives or other family members.